Luke 23 and 24

The last two chapters of Luke have been covered many times throughout the years. And with us being so close to Easter, we'll be hearing this wonderful story again soon.

So, I'm leaving you with a song.  The link below is to the video on GodTube. (http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=GYYGGNNX) I've also included the lyrics of this song that has had a special place in my heart since an Easter Sunrise service so many years ago.

Enjoy!

DOLLY PARTON
"He's Alive"

(Don Francisco)

The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound
Half in hope of sorrow
And half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin' through
To drag us all away

And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call
I hurried to the window
Looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches
And the sound of soldiers' feet

But there was no one there but Mary
So I went down to let her in
John stood there beside me
As she told me where she'd been
She said they've moved Him in the night
And none of us know where
The stone's been rolled away
And now His body isn't there

We both ran towards the garden
Then John ran on ahead
We found the stone and empty tomb
Just the way that Mary said
But the winding sheet they wrapped Him in
Was just an empty shell
And how or where they'd taken Him
Was more than I could tell

Oh something strange had happened there
Just what I did not know
John believed a miracle
But I just turned to go
Circumstance and speculation
Couldn't lift me very high
'Cause I'd seen them crucify Him
Then I saw Him die

Back inside the house again
The guilt and anguish came
Everything I'd promised Him
Just added to my shame
When at last it came to choices
I denied I knew His name
And even if He was alive
It wouldn't be the same

But suddenly the air was filled
With a strange and sweet perfume
Light that came from everywhere
Drove shadows from the room
And Jesus stood before me
With His arms held open wide
And I fell down on my knees
And I just clung to Him and cried

Then He raised me to my feet
And as I looked into His eyes
The love was shining out from Him
Like sunlight from the skies
Guilt in my confusion
Disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I ever had
Just melted into peace

He's alive yes He's alive
Yes He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive yes He's alive
Oh He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive He's alive
Hallelujah He's alive
He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive He's alive He's alive
I believe it He's alive
Sweet Jesus

Thanks, Beth!

Wow, I hate for the book of Luke to come to an end. Beth's comments each day were a devotion in themselves. Thanks, Beth, and we look forward to hearing from you on a future book.

I'll be blogging the gospel of John. This fourth gospel is different from the other three in that it focuses more on the humanity of Jesus.

Hang on and get ready for our final gospel.

P. Randy

Luke 21 and 22

As we read the last four chapters of Luke, we're reminded that Jesus' time on earth is growing to a close.  Just days before he had made his triumphant ride into Jerusalem as a hero.  Now he knows that within the next few days he will be betrayed by one of his own.  That had to be absolutely heart breaking.  Knowing how events were going to unfold, a lesser man would have run for the hills.  And in the Garden of Gethsemane, we do learn that Jesus asked his Father to let this cup pass from him.  But then he adds on those little words that we sometimes forget to include in our prayers.   "Thy will be done."

I'm getting ahead of myself though.  When reading the story about the widow who gives her last coin, I'm always left with a sense of admiration, and a feeling of comfort and contentedness.  There may be others in my life that are able to give much more - monetarily speaking -  to God's family than I am.  And I have to admit, that sometimes I feel a little bad that I'm not able to give more.  But then I'm reminded that God looks not only to the value of the objects we're giving him, but the value of our attitude as we're giving them to him.

I'm reminded of a story that I've heard many times over the year.  It's about a little girl who has a beautiful set of artificial pearls.  She loves that necklace and wears it every day.  At night, when it's time for bed, her daddy comes in to say good night and tuck her in.  They talk about the day, say their prayers together, and share "I love yous" as the day draws to a close.  But every night daddy ends by asking the same question "Pumkin, would you give me your pearls? I know you love them, but I'd like to have them.".   The little girl always answers the same way. "Daddy, you know I love you, but I really love my pearls too.  Wouldn't you like to have my teddy bear or my dolly instead?".  Daddy just pasts her hands and says, "No honey, that's alright, I'll just keep a picture of you in my heart.".  With that he turns off the light, and leaves the room.

What the little girl doesn't know is that Daddy has seen how she is with her friends and the rest of the family when it comes to those pearls.  She won't share with anyone, and will even keep herself off to the side of things when the other kids are playing.  When she does take those pearls off, they go in a very special place - only after a very involved ritual of polishing and admiration.

As the days and weeks go on, the little girl begins to see how her actions are affecting her family - especially her daddy.  Finally one cold, snowy, winter day, she decides that she is ready to give up her pearls for her Daddy.  She carefully takes them from around her neck, puts them in a blue velvet pouch and then carries them towards where her Daddy is sitting on the couch.  Her eyes are brimming with tears, and if her brothers say one word, she's sure she'll lose her resolve and run back to her room.  Thankfully, her brothers are in the other room finishing up their homework.

She crawls up on her Daddy's lap, gives him a big hug and says, "Daddy, you know how much I love my pearls.  But I've decided that they are not nearly as lovely as you.  I love you very much.  I don't know what you want with my pearls, but because you want them so badly, I'm ready to give them to you.".

For a moment, all Daddy can do is look into her eyes and hold back tears.  He gives her a great big hug and says, "My daughter, I love you more than you can ever imagine.  And I have a surprise for you."  With that, he sets her feet on the floor, gets to his feet and walks to his desk in the corner.  Out of the top desk drawer, he pulls a purple velvet bag.  He walks back to the couch, gathers her on his lap and hands her the pouch.  "Darling, I want you to have the gift inside this pouch.  I've been trying so long to give it to you, but you've had both hands full with your pearls.  Now that you have let go, your hands are ready for this new gift."

He encouraged her to open the bag, and when she opened it, she found a strand of real pearls.  The little girl is a little confused, and asks "Daddy, why did you wait so long?  Why didn't you give up?  You could have taken them from me long ago for being so selfish."

Her Daddy replied, "Honey, I wanted you to be ready to give them to me from your heart.  I could have made you give them up. But now that you have willingly given them to me, I know that you truly are giving them up for the right reason."

What kind of pearls are we holding on to?  Are we willing to give to Jesus with the right attitude?

Luke 19 & 20

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. 

He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. 

And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in that tree.  

And he said....Zacchaeus you come down! 

For I'm coming to your house today. For I'm coming to your house today.

I remember well this song from my childhood days in Sunday School.  I even remember the hand motions. We've talked about this story recently at Living Water Church.  And I'm always reminded that Zacchaeus did not let his vertically challenged status keep him away from seeing Jesus.  And when Jesus saw him and said "Let's grab lunch at your house", Zacchaeus didn't bat an eye.  He didn't make up excuses like, "I haven't been to the store and I have nothing fit to feed a King." or "Wow - my cleaning lady hasn't been in yet this week and there is dust all over the place."  Nope - he was ready to go! Besides the people in the crowd, astonished that Jesus was again hanging out with a tax collector, took care of the excuses for him. 

Upon hearing the scathing things that the people said about him, Zacchaeus immediately repented and promised that from that day on he would be fair in his dealings and would repay those he had over charged. Four times the amount he over charged. And -by the way, he gave half of his earnings away to the poor.

Jesus was ecstatic and celebrated the fact that this son of Abraham, had been found and welcomed into the family of God.

Investing 101

In the next section, we learn about the ten servants who are watching over their master's estate while he is gone.  Each of the ten servants were given an equal amount of money and charged with taking care of it.  The first servant had doubled the man's money, and was rewarded by given ten towns to rule as governor.  The second servant made a 50% profit on the original amount and was rewarded with five towns to govern.

The last servant had buried the money in a hole to protect it. He didn't want to risk losing any of the money.  The master was very  unhappy, and asked why the servant hadn't at least deposited the money in a bank to earn interest?  He took the money away from the third servant, and gave it to the first servant who had doubled his seed money.

In years past, I've heard this story but with the word talents instead of money.  To be precise, talents in this case referred to a type of currency and not skills that a person may have.  But....what if we run with that idea of talents being certain skills that we each bring to our church family?  

There are so many talents available to us. Among them: computer and other technology know how, musical instruments, singing, greeting, cooking, baking, listening, praying, caring for our children during service, driving people to and from church and other appointments, and of course letting God's love shine through our lives every day in what ever we're doing.  And we're not limited to just one talent. We have a mish-mash of talents that we carry with us.  There is also varying degrees of mastery to each talent as well.  

Just as in the story of the monetary talents, if we don't use our talents, then they go stale.  If we kinda, sorta, half-heartedly use our talents once in awhile, then we'll do okay with them. But if we train ourselves on a daily basis, and share those talents with others, then we gain experience and expertise. 

Jesus enters into Jerusalem

Growing up, our church used to celebrate Palm Sunday by giving everyone a palm frond on the way out of the sanctuary.  By and large, the adults were pretty calm about the gift.  A few would wave the palm frond gently to and fro. Others would just hold on tight and wonder where they were going to place it while they got their post-service coffee and cookie.  But us kids - woooooooooeeeeeee.  Those palm fronds were waving like over sized fly swatters as we chased each other around the building.  Until we discovered that those individual "leaves" would slice your finger just like a paper-cut.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, he knew what was happening. He knew that these very people who were celebrating him, were going to turn on him and ask for a criminal's release instead of his own. He knew all about the beatings, the name calling, the trek to Skull Hill, and of course his impending death.  He knew that those closest to him were going to deny him.  But he also knew that by accepting his task, he would make it so much easier for us to join Him and his Father in an even greater celebration in heaven.

The conclusion of the chapter has Jesus throwing  the money changers, vendors and others out of the temple.  The house of worship had become much like a bazaar with some pretty iffy characters swindling people out of their money.  

By Chapter 20, I kind of get the feeling that Jesus has had E-N-O-U-G-H of the doubters, and nay-sayers and he was just ready to prove who he was and usher in God's plan of salvation and forgiveness.

The religious scholars start the chapter by asking him where he got his authority to speak and act this way.  He does a quick double take on them and asks them where John got the authority to be baptised?  They knew that if they answered "heaven" then Jesus could claim a "gotcha" moment. If they answered "humans" then their students and followers would revolt.  So just like a child when asked "Who put the cat in the dryer?" the answer was "I don't know!" (I always imagine Bill Cosby's voice saying this and get the giggles.) Jesus, knowing that this was going to be their answer, said that he wouldn't answer their question either.

The next story reminds me of the old Dragnet series with Harry Morgan and Jack Webb.  The story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.  Or in this case, the story is a bit of an embellishment, but the plot line and end result are the same.

Imagine if you will, a man who has planted a vineyard.  For some reason, he needs to leave the vineyard and be away for a long time.  Perhaps he needs to travel to the capitol to campaign for irrigation rights or lower employment taxes.  While he's gone, the farmhands who have worked with him continue to take care of the grounds. The capitol trip takes longer than expected, and the owner sends a servant to collect the income from the vineyard.  The farmhands beat him and sent him on his way.  The owner, then sends another servant (no way was the 1st servant going back), and the same thing happens.  

A-ha! says the owner, I'll send my own son.  The farmhands know him, and they will give him the money and send him on his way.  Nice thought, but the farmhands see this as a way to get control of the vineyard. Without the son, the owner will not have an heir, and the vineyard will go to them upon the owners death.  So when the son arrives, they not only beat him up, but throw him over the cliff.  The owner, by this time is pretty fed-up and enraged that the farmhands had killed his son.  He returns to the vineyard and does a little cleaning himself.

I'll say this for the Pharisees, they were firing on all cylinders when they figured out the story was about them and their rejection of Jesus.  Their egos must have taken a nose dive when Jesus reminded them that the owner of the vineyard would appoint new farmhands to take care of the vineyard.  In other words, the Pharisees were on their way out, whether they liked it or not.  The new church was going to be built on the cornerstone of Jesus.

The last two sections of chapter 20 has to do with taxes and marriage.  The tax section basically sums up to "Give Caesar what is his and give God what is his".  In the interest of time on a Saturday morning, I'll let you read more about that section on your own.  The next section kind of dove-tails in with a conversation we had at our Women's Bible study on Thursday night.

In the Jewish culture, if a married man passed away before he and his wife had children, the man's next oldest brother was to marry the wife and have kids.  If that second brother passed away without any children in the picture, then the next brother was to marry the wife and so on and so on.  Once the woman had a son (yep had to be a son), then there was no need for another brother to marry her.  This tradition is also called redemption.

In chapter 20, the example above is given, but with seven brothers and no children along the way.  The question that the "teachers" had for Jesus was "Which husband will the wife be with in heaven?"  

The answer?  Basically Jesus said that as part of our resurrected life, we won't be concerned with death, life or marriage.  We are going to be so busy praising, singing and worshiping that we won't care about where or who our spouse is. In fact, even Moses knew that a life with God meant no more death.  He didn't say "Oh God of our dearly departed Abraham" or "God of Jacob - rest his soul".  He knew that Abraham, Jacob and Issac were alive and well and with God.

Luke 17 & 18

Luke 17 kind of reminds me of a Reader's Digest version of things Jesus is trying to tell the disciples as his time grows short.  Or if not Reader's Digest, then a great Power Point presentation.  I can imagine a big screen with a lake shore background and the following bullet points flowing in...

• Trials and Temptations are bound to happen - but woe to those who cause them
• Better to swim with a weight around your neck than to give these "dear little ones" a hard time
• Tell you friend when you see them doing wrong. If they reject you several times during the day, keep forgiving them.
• There is no such thing as "more faith"  You either have it or you don't.
• If you have faith, you can tell a tree to jump in the lake
• Don't expect lavish praise for doing what you're supposed to be doing (OUCH!)
• Do your job well, put in the hours you've agreed to and then leave it for the day (Not directly written, but makes sense to me)

After this collection of to-do's, Jesus is called to by ten lepers. They don't approach him, but call to him from a distance to have mercy.  He heals all ten of them and tells them to go show themselves to the priest. (This was an important step in proving their health and being allowed back into daily society.)  Only one of them comes to Jesus to thank him and kneel at his feet. This does not go un-noticed.  Jesus tells him to get up and go on his way. His faith has not only healed him - but saved him as well.  I don't know how many times I've read that sentence and always glided over that "saved him" portion.  This man that remembered to say thanks was not only healed and would be accepted to society, but was saved and will be with Jesus in heaven.  A double blessing for doing so simple as remembering to show his thanks.  Wonder how many double blessings I could have had if I had remembered to thank God for the small blessings he gives me each day?

The last section is Jesus trying to explain to the Pharisees and others gathered when the Kingdom of God was going to arrive.  We don't have a Google Calendar to mark the arrival.  We won't have an early detection system that will go off and tell us to prepare.  Gary England won't be on News 9 tracking his arrival.  But when he does arrive, we need to be ready to drop everything and go with him.  No running back into the house for our cell phone or our camera.  No stopping by our friend's house one last time to try and save them.  

In Luke 18, Jesus encourages us to be persistent in our prayers. He uses the story of a widow who continues to ask a judge for favor in a situation, until he relents and gives her what she's asking for.  I equate this to our fuzzy dog Anders.  When he wants outside, he will walk to the door, walk back to you, do a complete circle around you and then starts all over again.  After a few circuits, I get dizzy watching him and let him out to bark at what ever he's watching.

Later in the chapter we're reminded to pray with our hearts and not with an outward show.  The purpose of prayer is to have a heart to heart chat with our Father. If I was to make a show of talking to my dad, with big words, big gestures and melodramatic inflection, he'd tell me to straighten up and fly right. He much prefers having a nice long conversation over a cup of coffee or tea.

Jesus again makes it plain to the disciples that he has a special place in his heart for children.  If we can't believe in him like a child believes in him, then we're missing out.  It may go against our nature, but I think if we picture ourselves wrapped in Jesus's embrace and tackling the day together, then things won't seem so bad.

Next in the chapter, a rich official asks Jesus what he needs to do to get into the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus replies that he needs to give everything away and follow him.  This is pretty painful for the rich man as he is very rich and very happy with his life.  Jesus then says that it will be easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.  I've heard a story in the past that this story was a little more true to reality than we may think.  From what I can remember, there is/was a pass in the middle east that locals called "the eye of the needle".  It was along a caravan route, and when the loaded camels neared this pass, the caravan leaders had to unpack the camels, lead them without their load through the pass and then reload them on the other side.  That means that the materials the camels had been carrying had to be moved by human power though the pass.  That's a lot of work!

The last section reminds us again to be persistent when asking God for what we want - and to not be shy about it.  As Jesus is nearing Jericho a blind man hears the commotion and calls out from where he is, "Son of David - Mercy, have mercy on me!"  The people around him try to shush him, but he calls out even louder "Son of David - Mercy, have mercy on me!".   Not only is this man calling from where he is, but he's calling out to the Son of David.  The blind man knows exactly who Jesus is - the Son of Man who is our Lord and Master.  

Jesus asked that the man be brought over to him.  I'm sure that this meant that friends of the blind man had to help him up and guide him to Jesus.  I wonder what they were thinking?  "Oh wow - now he's done it. This Jesus is going to strike him for being obnoxious".  Or perhaps "Why didn't I stay in bed longer today?  Then I wouldn't be mixed up in this."  I'm hoping that there was at least one friend who thought "This is the day that my friend will be able to see. I'm so blessed to be part of this!"

As the man is brought close, Jesus asks him what he wants.  He replies that he wants to see and Jesus tells him that his faith has saved and healed him - go on about your life.  There's that "saved" word again.  A spiritual two for one!  Everyone in the street saw the miracle and began praising.  My guess is that the crowd was quite a bit louder than the lone blind man had been just moments before.  

So....when we receive our heart's desire from Jesus, what do we do? Nothing? Tell a few select friends how we have been blessed?  Or....do we share the good news with many people - giving them hope that our Father knows each and every one of our needs and is just waiting for the right time to bless us?

Chapter 11 - update

I know, I know...I already have a post today, but wanted to follow up on a conversation a few of us had about Luke 11: 5-13.  It's a section that I neglected in my first post.  Not really sure why that happened, but it wasn't on purpose.

In this section, Jesus starts with a story about a man who knocks on his friend's door in the middle of the night. Apparently, the man received some unexpected company, and is asking his friend for three loaves of bread to help feed his visitors.  The friend, already snug and warm in his bed calls out "Go away! My children are already sleeping, I'm snug and warm and I'm not opening the door."  The first man, continues knocking and calling out until his friend gets up from bed, unlocks the door and gives him the bread.

I've heard some folks say that the "friend" in the passage refers to God the Father.  But reading on further, I personally don't think that's the case. Verse 9 in the Message Bible says: "Here's what I'm saying: Ask and you'll get; Seek and you'll find; Knock and the door will open."

I don't think that this means God is going to give us a blank check either.  Remember, he wants what's best for us, and sometimes that means not giving us what we ask for.  But in those cases, I think he also passes on a little wisdom and shows why the thing we thought we really wanted and needed, is something that we don't want and/or need.  It brings to mind a kiddo who wants to eat nothing but chocolate, candy, cake, donuts, brownies and other sugary treats.  To paraphrase Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory "They want it and they want it NOW!"  In their minds, they want that sugary goodness. They need that sugar high. But we as adults (usually) know that with every sugar high, comes a pretty drastic sugar low.

The last four verses in the Message Bible are pretty helpful as well.
10 "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in.11 If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate?12 If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider?13 As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing-you're at least decent to your own children. And don't you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?"


I love how it tells us to be direct with God.  Those of you who have spent any time around children of any age, know when they are beating around the bush.  They kind of do that hover thing - wandering around the house with you - talking about things you like to talk about - doing chores without being asked.  And then finally, once they have their courage built up, and they think they're going to get the answer their looking for, they ask their question.  As a parent, this can be a bit aggravating. Although, having those chores done without badgering them is a pretty good trade off.  But God doesn't want to play that game.  He wants us to  ask him for what we want.  But above that, I think he wants us to trust him for the best answer for us.

I'm also pretty glad that God is not going to give me a snake or a spider when I ask for fish or an egg. (Snakes are an enigma to me. How do they move without feet?"

Luke Chapters 15 & 16

The majority of Luke's 15th chapter is spent on telling the story of the prodigal son. And because we've recently heard this story excellently retold by our recent guest speaker, I'm going to leave that portion of the chapter to you to ponder.

The rest of the chapter tells how Jesus has been attracting all sorts of attention for hanging out with those less "perfect" and "worthy" than the religious leaders of the day.  This grumbling prompted the story of the missing lamb and the missing coin.

Both stories have been made real in our household over the last few weeks.  A missing coin, doesn't cause much anxiety for us adults. Unless of course it's a rare gold coin found on a sunken pirate ship.  But kids have this fascination with those shiny pieces of currency.  And trust me when I say that if a kiddo starts off the day with six shiny quarters, and then winds up with only five, there is going to be an intense search until that sixth coin is found. (Note that names have been omitted and coin counts have been altered to protect the youngster's ego.) When that sixth coin was found, there was a definite sigh of relief and an exuberance of joy!

And then there's the case of the missing pony.  We currently have five miniature horses as part of our animal menagerie.  The youngest, not quite a year old yet, is pretty good at finding her way to the "wrong side" of the fence. I think it's a mix of her small size, her curiosity and her very independent nature. But if there is someway to get to that greener grass on the other side of the fence, then she is going to find it.  Most days she doesn't wander to far off from the rest of the family on the "right side" of the fence.  However, every once in awhile, she'll hide herself in a grove of trees.  Some folks would say this is because she'd hiding from the wind or the rain.  I think it's because she enjoys her games of hide and seek with her human parents. And even though we're used to these games of hide and seek, I'm always relieved and happy to find her.

If we as humans can get so excited about coins and horses, how much more excited does Jesus get when that person he's been searching for comes home. He loves his saints who have been with him for years. Much like the found coins and horses above are loved and appreciated.  But when that soul that Jesus has been chasing for years finally comes home, how sweet that feeling must be.  I imagine it to be a million times our feelings when a loved one makes a decision for Christ.

Jesus continues to surprise me with just how unique he is in chapter 16, but at the same time reminds me just how unchanging he will always be.

The chapter begins with the story of a crooked manager.  Long story short, a manager is caught running up personal expenses via his job with the owner.  The owner calls for a complete audit of the books and fires the manager.  The manager, quite accustomed to the life he is leading, figures out a way to cook the books and avoid being tossed into the street as a homeless person.  In today's society the manager would be subject to trial and punishment.  But in this story the owner is impressed with the manager's ingenuity.

Jesus wants us to be like this manager.  He wants us to look for new angles and methods to accomplish what needs to be done. He wants us to find new ways to handle the adversity that comes our way.  Many times, the existing ways will work just fine.  However, sometimes we need to think outside of the box and come up with a new way to solve a problem. Much like many animals will look for alternative ways to solve problems based on the tools and things around them. For instance, a certain species of bird will pickup a twig in his beak to reach ants and bugs inside a narrow crevice.  The bird doesn't have hands, but by using the twig as an extension of his beak, he's able to reach that tasty snack.

The second section reminds us that even though we may do a really good job of acting the part of Chisttian, Jesus knows our heart and how we truly live. Whether it be as a Christian doing their best to honor him, or as a Christian actor trying to pull a fast one.

The last section of chapter 16 is the story of  the rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. (I find it interesting that the rich man is not named....)  Lazarus was not only poor, but had been afflicted with sores all over his body.  His best friends were the dogs that would join him at the city gate and lick his sores. Both men pass away. Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man is sent to hell.  As part of his punishment, the rich man is able to look up and see Lazarus reclining with Abraham.  The rich man begs for Lazarus to dip his hand in water and then let him lick the cool water off of his finger tips.  No go.  Then the rich man begs for Lazarus to be raised from the dead so that he can go to the house of the rich man and warn his relatives.  Again a negative response.

Abraham's explanation to the rich man is that for years, people have been blessed with visits by prophets and teacher sharing the word of God's kingdom. And for years people have refused to listen.  Even if Lazarus was to be given life again, chances are the rich man's family wouldn't believe it.

Hmmmmm.....sounds a  little bit like how we treat Jesus.  We didn't listen while he was here.  He died and came back from the dead, and we still don't listen.  I don't know about you, but I'm pretty grateful that our Father in Heaven is a bit more loving and forgiving than we are in our day to day lives.  He doesn't give up on us, and keeps sending those messengers to our lives that remind us of his love for us.

Maybe we should be looking at how we can be a messenger for others.